Berlin is melancholic and poignant, it’s a place of erasure and transfiguration. Its conflicting history is an integral part of its identity. I cannot escape the feeling that something else once stood here and its shadow is still present. It is as if I was walking through a movie set that is being slowly dismantled. Following are a few photos that illustrate my impressions of Berlin.

Next week all the type geeks will converge to Berlin to indulge in an orgy of typographic lectures. Naturally Type & Media will be present! Interestingly someone sent me a link about the nationalities that will be present at Typo-Berlin. The pie chart clearly shows that the germans are the majority of visitors. But what is surprising is the rather high number of Belgians compared to the Dutch and the Brits. There will be 37 belgians, that is almost twice as much as the dutch. OK, 37 is not a lot but if you think that we actually outnumber the “great-dutch-nation-of-typographers” then something must be happening in Belgium. How to explain this sudden interest for typography in Belgium? I can’t.

As far as I know type design stopped in belgium with Hendrik van den Keere around 1580. However, there seem to be a new generation of belgian type designer such as Jo De Baerdemaeker and Frederik Berlaen. But it remains very marginal and in an ever increasing globalized world the origins of the designers cary less and less importance. Don’t get me wrong, I am not nostalgic or a chauvinist, I am just curious to know why there is so much interest in typography in Belgium. This renewed interest will hopefully bring an end to more than 427 years of complete disregard for type design.

Feel free to correct me if i have omitted to mention other contemporary belgian type designers.